When to a legal allegation

You turn your excommunication,

And for a groat unpaid that's due,
Distrain on soul and body too.

Thought he, 'tis no mean part of civil

State prudence, to cajole the devil ;

And not to handle him too rough,

1525

When h' has us in his cloven hoof.

'Tis true, quoth he, that intercourse

Has pass'd between your friends and ours, 1530
That as you trust us, in our way,

To raise your members, and to lay,
We send you others of our own,

Your great designs of rage and murder.
For if the saints are nam'd from blood,

We onl' have made that title good;

And if it were but in our pow'r

We should not scruple to do more,

1.540

And not be half a soul behind

Of all dissenters of mankind.

1545

Right, quoth the Voice, and as I scorn

To be ungrateful in return

Of all those kind good offices,

I'll free you out of this distress;

1550

And set you down in safety, where

It is no time to tell you here.

The cock crows, and the morn grows on,
When 'tis decreed I must be gone;

And if I leave you here till day,

You'll find it hard to get away.

With that the spirit grop'd about,
To find th' enchanted hero out,
And try'd with haste to lift him up,
But found his forlorn hope, his crup,
Unserviceable with kicks and blows
Receiv'd from harden'd-hearted foes.
He thought to drag him by the heels,
Like Gresham carts, with legs for wheels;
But Fear, that soonest cures these sores,

1555

1560

1565

In danger of relapse to worse,

Came in to assist him with its aid,

And up his sinking vessel weigh'd.

No sooner was he fit to trudge,

But both made ready to dislodge;

1570

The spirit hors'd him like a sack,
Upon the vehicle, his back;

And bore him headlong into th' hall,
With some few rubs against the wall;
Where finding out the postern lock'd,

And th' avenues as strongly block'd,

H' attack'd the window, storm'd the glass,
And in a moment gain'd the pass:

1575

Through which he dragg'd the worsted soldier's Fore-quarters out by th' head and shoulders; 1580 And cautiously began to scout,

To find their fellow-cattle out.
Nor was it half a minute's quest,

Ere he retriev'd the champion's beast,

Tied to a pale instead of a rack,

1585

But ne'er a saddle on his back,

Nor pistols at the saddle-bow,

Convey'd away the Lord knows how.
He thought it was no time to stay,

And let the night too steal away;

1590

But in a trice advanc'd the Knight
Upon the bare ridge bolt upright,